Idea for your family group wedding photos

A great idea to make sure your family group wedding photos go smoothly!

Your wedding ceremony has finished and it went beautifully. It is now time to gather together the family members and special friends who you want to have group wedding photos taken with, while the cocktails and canapes are being served. This part of your wedding day can end up taking a long time as it is often like trying to herd cats, or nail jelly to a tree as guests sometimes wander off and get distracted by mingling.

Since starting out as a mobile DJ back in 1986, I have seen dozens (possibly hundreds) of group wedding photos shoots that took far longer than they needed to, and were disruptive, which seemed to detract from the wonderful memories of the day. I came up with a concept that helps eliminate this problem, and ensures that your family photos are taken swiftly and without drama, allowing everyone to carry on enjoying the celebration.

Using this idea, your MC or Photographer will not need to keep calling out for Aunt Rose, Brother Peter or Granny Mildred, as the team are corralled.

The answer is pretty simple, so here is my suggestion.

Work out what group wedding photos you want and with whom.

List everyone who needs to be in each picture, for example ‘Photo 2- US, Uncle Jeff, Auntie Susan, Dylan, Leroy and Scarlett’

Print out three copies of the photo list.

Appoint one or two ‘Photo Wranglers’ who know all the people in each photo. Sometimes this might be someone from each side of the family. Give a copy of your list to each of them and a copy to your photographer.

Instruct the Photo Wranglers to round up the next group of people while the current group is being photographed.

Finish group photos in record time, and everyone goes back to enjoying the day while you shoot off to take your bridal party pictures.

For added bonus points, how about putting together your group photo list with head-shot photos of the people you want in each of the photos. This makes it even easier for your photo wranglers and photographer, and personalises the process further still. Here is an example of what that might look like. The photos can usually be found on people’s Facebook, Linked In, Snapchat or Instagram accounts, but if not, get them to send you a photo.

Everyone is happy, things have gone almost unbelievably smoothly and you’ve saved as much as half an hour in your timeline.

I’ve got lots of great tips and suggestions like this. Contact me for a free consultation about your wedding day. I guarantee you’ll come away with ideas and things you’ve never thought about before!